Cinderella’s Castle

Back in August, we spent a wonderful week at Disney World. We had been in October before but with Kyle getting older, it’s harder to pull him out for a week to go to Disney. When we looked at it, the week right before Labor Day is supposed to be fairly unbusy. As this week worked well for us, and we got free dining, we decided to go. Overall, it wasn’t so busy, especially Wednesday through Friday. (We headed down on Tuesday as Kyle had something for incoming 6th grade students on Monday.) However, it was hot. In terms of hotel, we splurged a bit and stayed at Wilderness Lodge which was really nice and we would certainly stay there again.

We had some excitement on the flight down as there was smoke in the plane cabin just after takeoff from Newark. We turned around and landed right away. While they brought out fire trucks, there was nothing going on. It was quite unsettling. After a three and a half hour or so delay, we finally headed out.

My mom came over Tuesday as well and spent until Friday evening with us which was great. After arriving and a quick swim, we headed to Disney Springs for dinner at T-Rex cafe. Wednesday was our day at Hollywood Studios. It was quiet enough here that we did Toy Story Mania! three times and I did Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster five times (three right after each other). We ate at Mama Melrose’s on the Fantasmic! package.

Kyle at Chefs de France

Thursday was Animal Kingdom with dinner at Tusker House as part of the Rivers of Light package. This was my first time on Dinosaur which was cool, and Kyle loved. We managed to snag Fastpass+ for Flights of Passage which was exceptional. Friday was Epcot day one with dinner at Chefs de France. This was a first for us and we enjoyed it, though I had the very German-like roast pork shank (Schweinehaxe in German). Kyle loved the “more intense” orange level on Mission: Space, enough that we did it 5+ times over two days.

Saturday was our first day at the Magic Kingdom. It was a bit busier here. We took a short break for dinner at Ohana (at the Polynesian resort). This was excellent but we were stuffed afterward. Sunday was a second day at MK. We took a midday break back at the hotel followed by dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe (at Wilderness Lodge) which was good. Monday was our last park day, back at Epcot. Dinner (late lunch) was at the Biergarten.

Tuesday morning we just hung around the hotel before heading out to the airport for the (delayed) flight home. Overall, the trip was good. We liked experiencing some new rides, new shows, and new restaurants. Did I mention it was hot? Even my mom (who lives in Florida) agreed that was the case. We also had a few times of rain.

Photos

• Magic Kingdom
• Epcot
• Animal Kingdom
• Hollywood Studios
• Other Places (Disney Springs, Wilderness Lodge, Polynesian)

Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom

Fran at Hollywood Studios